


It's Not Mackerel

by the_sylph_of_mind



Category: Free!
Genre: Commission fic, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-10-10
Updated: 2014-04-24
Packaged: 2017-12-29 01:06:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/999047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_sylph_of_mind/pseuds/the_sylph_of_mind
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rei visits Haru with the intention of practicing swimming together, but the sudden rain changes their plans.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Rei in the Rain

**Author's Note:**

> Commission fic for Mandy!

            Rei pulled his scarf tighter around his face and breathed into it, trying to warm his nose. It was simply way too cold to have a swimming practice, regardless if the pool was heated. There would probably be leaves and dust and all sorts of undesirable dead flora and fauna floating in it, too, given the season. But Haru had insisted, and Rei wasn’t one to say no to Haru. He blushed and secretly felt begrudging gratefulness for the cold; at least nobody would be able to attribute the pink in his cheeks to private thoughts.

            He wound his way down the familiar paths and streets, arriving at Haru’s doorstep, the little lit porch light indicating that Haru was in fact home, just probably in the bath wearing a swimsuit. Rei knocked on principal anyway, knowing Haru wouldn’t answer, but he’d yet to become comfortable with just entering this house like it was his own. He blushed again and let himself in.

           “Haruka-senpai?” He called into the front room, glancing around the minimally adorned space. He removed his shoes and ventured upstairs, knocking at the bathroom door. He heard bubbles and a splash.

          “Yeah?”

          “Haruka-senpai, it’s Rei.” He called through the door. “I let myself in, I hope you don’t mind…”

          Haru slid the door open, leaning against the frame and drying his hair, training his cool gaze on Rei. He must not have been wearing his swimsuit because he had a towel wrapped snugly around his waist. Rei fought the urge to look down.

            “I mentioned already, you can come in whenever you want. Also you can drop the –senpai when we aren’t at school.” He shrugged, “If you want…” He added, like an afterthought.

            “Er…right. Haru.” He straightened his tie. “I’ve brought my swimsuit, we should leave as soon as possible to gain as many hours of practice as we can before the sun—goes…down?” Rei tilted his head, listening. He gasped and rushed to the window at the end of the hall, throwing it open. Rain pattered down, steadily painting the streets darker and shinier. Rei sighed and adjusted his glasses.

            Haru came up quietly next to him, brushing his arm against Rei’s and leaning out the window, resting his chin in one palm. He inhaled slowly through his nose, his eyes fixed on the sky.

            “Three. Two. One.”

            The rain suddenly poured down in sheets, shifting from a gentle shower to a merciless bombardment of water, the sound turning on a dime from a meditative hum to a deafening roar. Rei turned to Haru, watching him watch the rain for a moment before clearing his throat and saying,

            “Haruka-sen…Haru, I don’t think we can practice today.”


	2. Little Things

            They watched the thunderous rain for a few minutes, still somehow beautiful in its potentially destructive force, but once the wind picked up and began to swing the window against the side of the house, threatening to crack the glass, Rei pulled it closed and sighed, turning to Haru.

            “Haru, clearly we need to reschedule practice, but this presents another problem.”

            “Hm?” He shifted his level gaze onto Rei.

            “I failed to factor in rain as a possible variable, so I didn’t bring an umbrella. May I borrow yours for my walk back home? I’ll return it to you tomorrow and be sure to bring my own—”

            “I don’t own an umbrella.”

Rei blinks.

            “You…don’t own an umbrella?”

            “I don’t mind getting wet.”

            “…Right.”

He sighed and adjusted his glasses, trying to think.

            “You can stay here until it stops, if you want.”

Rei paused and searched for words for a moment.

            “I-I wouldn’t want to get in your way—”

            “I live alone, so it would actually be nice to have some company for a while.”

Rei fiddled with the buckle on his backpack, looking at his hands.

            “Th-that, er... that does sound enjoyable. If swimming is out of the question…I have my backpack with me, have you done your homework for physics yet?”

            Haru shook his head, a movement almost identical to when he surfaces from a pool and shakes his head to clear the hair from his eyes.

            “Why don’t we do it together? It’s likely we’ll be more efficient that way.”

Haru nodded his approval and gently brushed by Rei, pattering down the hall like the rain before it became a downpour.

            Haru pulled his textbook and various loose papers out of his shoulder bag, stacking them on the low table. Rei joined him, sitting on his knees, unzipping his own backpack and finding his homework, right where he had put it, in its own labeled folder. Haru glanced over and gave it a subtle smirk. Rei bristled briefly, then stood.

            “Shall I make some barely tea? Afterall,” He added, cocking his eyebrow, “the Ryuugazaki family—”

            “Rei,” Haru shifted his eyes over to him, his chin resting in his palm. Rei looked down and fiddled with the pencil behind his ear.

            “I-If you don’t want any, I don’t have to—”

           “No, it’s not that. I was going to ask how you knew I liked barley tea.”

Rei’s ears turned red.

            “…Well it’s j-just…you have a cup every time you visit me, so I…”

            “I only drink it when I visit you. Nowhere else makes it as good.”

Rei’s ears perked and he straightened up, puffing his chest out just a little.

            “Naturally!” He adjusted his glasses. “I’ll get to it, then.”

Haru watched Rei turn and walk to the kitchenette, and then let a gentle smile slide over his features before turning his attention to the open textbook at the table before him. 


	3. Snap

            The little ceramic cups of barley tea steamed gently on their coasters next to Rei’s and Haru’s homework textbooks and scattered papers. Rei was a quiet worker. He occasionally reached for his teacup and took a long sip, but without looking away from his textbook. The only sounds were the scritching of his pencil and his steady breathing, his concentration on his homework temporarily diverting his attention away from Haru, his thigh gently resting against Rei’s. For a while, this small touch didn’t seem out of place or strenuous or make Rei choke and his hands flutter. It was just a comfort, it felt natural, a warm reminder that they were sitting peacefully together, and Haru didn’t mind, and Rei didn’t mind, and that was fine.

            Twenty minutes passed before Rei noticed that the sound of his pencil was indeed the only thing disturbing the quiet. He glanced over to Haru, and expecting to see a sheet full of formulas and written work, and instead saw Haru, his chin resting in his palm, his answer sheet blank.

            “Haru?”

            “Hm?” Haru shifted his gaze coolly onto Rei.

            “Your…your paper is empty.”

Haru turned back towards his blank sheet, not really looking at it. Rei’s brows creased in the middle, looking from Haru’s faraway gaze to his clean paper and back. He peered at Haru; knowing that incompetence was something to which he would never admit.

“Do you not un—would you like my help?”

            Haru flicked his eyes back to Rei, pausing, deep in some imperceptible thought. Rei wished for a moment that Makoto were here so he could translate. Haru gave an incremental nod before nudging his textbook over to where Rei could see the page Haru had been expressionlessly scrutinizing. He placed a slender finger on a header reading “Three Laws of Motion.”

            “I keep rereading these, but I don’t see the logic in them.”

Rei reached over and turned the textbook a little more toward him, the back of his hand brushing Haru’s arm briefly.

           

            “ _A body remains at rest or in motion in a straight line unless a force in impressed upon it.”_

            “What is confusing you?”

            Haru tapped his finger on the desk for a moment, a nervous habit Rei had never witness him do.

            “The ocean.”

            “Huh?”

            “The ocean doesn’t move in a straight line.”

Rei couldn’t help but smile a little. He wondered if this was how Haru made sense of all his assignments, by comparing them to the properties of water.

            “Well, look at the second law, it talks about changes in the motion.” He watched Haru’s eyes scan the line, briefly crossing Rei’s finger, pointing at the header. “See? Not everything moves in a straight line all the time, forces can be imposed upon it to cause it to change direction, speed up, slow down, or stop. I suppose that ties in a little bit with the third law as well, but…”

            “But what’s the force proportional to the current direction of the ocean that’s able to change its pattern?” Haru cut him off, “Or stop it from changing its pattern, for that matter?”

            “I suppose…the wind?”

            Haru wrinkled his nose. Rei bit his lip nervously. He knew he had to step lightly with Haru, but this? It seemed weirdly personal. Haru’s pride really must have been hurt, needing help with homework.

            “The wind is not proportional to the force of the ocean unless it’s a hurricane. And the ocean is so vast and deep. How could a gust of wind on the surface effect all of it?”

            “Er…I’m sure if we thought on this long enough, we could come up with something, but it _does_ say there are exceptions, and perhaps you shouldn’t be comparing everything to water…?”

            “Why shouldn’t I? All life comes from water. Everything should come full circle back to it.”

There was a small silence where the two of them seemed to stare each other down. Rei took a breath and adjusted his glasses before calmly asking,

            “Do you understand the third principle?”

Haru waited half a moment before breaking his gaze with Rei and training it back on the textbook.

           

            _“To every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.”_

 

            “No.”

            “What is means is every force that is exerted creates another force with the same proportions, but the opposite effect.”

            Haru began drumming the pencil against the table top. The continuous sharp clacking sound made Rei’s mind muddled.

            “I still don’t understand”

            “Um…it means that…every force that…”

            “You’re just rephrasing what the book says.”

Rei’s eyebrow twitched.

             “It means, um…Haru, please stop that tapping.”

Haru ceased drumming his pencil, resting the sharpened end against the shiny table, looking at Rei with cool, glassy eyes, before dropping the pencil into the textbook and closing it, standing and turning away.

            “I’ve had enough for now. I’m going into the bath to think. Where everything makes sense.”

            Rei watched him walk gracefully down the hallway, Haru’s cup of barley tea unfinished and cold next to his. 


	4. Water and Wings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy birthday, Mandy!

     The rain had settled from a deadly roar to a moody growl, drumming on the roof of Haru’s house, filling up the empty space around Rei with white noise. He was breathing hard, his frustration boiling down to a simmer, slowly sinking into a cold chill. The rain was cloaking the sound of the bathtub filling up down the hall, making it difficult for Rei to tell when Haru had turned the faucet off before, doubtlessly, brewing heatedly, himself.

  
     Rei sighed and ruffled his hair, turning around and resting his chin on the windowsill, watching the rain slide down the glass in single drops, group together, then continue to glide toward the wooden frame. He’d never seen Haru so bitter. Rei steamed pettily by the window, staring at the diluted reflection of himself. He felt a seed of guilt crack open and begin to grow in the pit of his stomach. Perhaps…Haru was not angry with the subject matter, but at his would-be tutor? Rei had certainly not done exactly a bang-up job coaching him.

  
     He slumped lower and his nose pressed against the cold window, fogging it up and obscuring his vision briefly. He didn’t inch backward, just allowed the fog to dissipate when he inhaled. As the mist cleared for a moment, his eye was drawn to the corner of the windowsill outside, where a small, white butterfly was slowly and idly folding and unfolding its wings in the chill of the drizzle. Tiny, tiny droplets of water collected on its antennae and wings, then rolled off and dripped imperceptibly onto the worn wooden sill.

  
     The rain eased further into a mist, hanging in the air more than falling, slowly drifting to the icy roads below. The butterfly fluttered into the air, circled once by the window, nearly brushing the glass by Rei’s nose, and flitted off into the cold, grey afternoon, the miniscule, weightless drops of water harmlessly brushed aside by the flap of its delicate white wings.

  
     Rei watched it until he lost the white of its wings in the grey of the sky, and blinked, realizing it had been minutes since he had done so. He pondered the butterfly brushing away the droplets, brows peaked. Down the hall, he heard Haru gently splash in the tub.

  
     Rei stood purposefully, and pushed his glasses up on the bridge of his chilled nose. He inhaled deeply and slowly released a controlled breath, lacing his fingers together and cracking them. He took a step toward the kitchen, mentally readying his apology to Haru, and hoping Haru had enough stocked in his kitchen for Rei to boast his skills as a chef.


	5. It's Not Mackerel

            Rei neatly stacked the various used cooking implements in the sink, with every intention to clean them up later. Taking the tray of sushi in one hand and adjusting his glasses with the other, he tiptoed down the hall and paused in front of the closed bathroom door, heat creeping out from under the gap and over Rei’s toes. He shivered a little, took a breath, and knocked gently on the door. He heard the water in the bath shift, gently lapping the sides of the tub.

            “Haru?” He timidly called through the door. “Haruka-senpai, I, er…I’ve made you lunch.”

He heard Haru sit up, water sloshing.

            “Is it mackerel?” Haru called, his voice a little muffled by door. Rei could hear just a hint of hopefulness in Haru’s voice and his face fell.

            “No, it’s not mackerel.” Rei shifted the tray of sushi from one hand to the other and scratched bashfully at his cheek. “Haru…I’m sorry I became angry with you. I didn’t understand how to properly tutor you, and I don’t think I even tried to understand, and in doing so I failed you, not only as a tutor, but as a friend.” Rei lowered himself to the floorboards, sitting back against the wall opposite the door, head bent down, looking at the plate of sushi he carefully held in both hands. “Or…as anything, I guess…”

            Steam clouded up Rei’s glasses as Haru opened the door, hair dripping, a towel knotted around his waist. Rei tilted his chin up, only able to make out Haru’s blurry outline, and unable to wipe his glasses for fear of dropping the plate of carefully prepared apology sushi. Haru chuckled lightly, something Rei had never witnessed. He nearly chocked on the butterflies rocketing around his stomach at the melodic sound. He felt his glasses gently removed from his face, but was left just as blind as when the fog clouded his vision. He could vaguely see Haru cleaning the lenses on the towel clinging to his hips. Rei gulped and Haru alined his glasses once again on the bridge of his nose. Haru was still standing, but had his hands on his knees, leveling his gaze with Rei’s and smiling gently.

            “You made this for me?”

            “Yes, senpai,” Rei miraculously avoided stuttering. “I thought this would make for a more resounding apology…”

            “Thank you, Rei. This looks really good.” Haru lifted the plate from Rei’s hand and offered him his own. Rei gripped it meekly, and Haru pulled Rei to his feet, their chests briefly and lightly brushing as Rei regained his balance.

            “I didn’t know you could cook. I like that you can surprise me.” The corner of Haru’s mouth lifted just slightly. “Let’s go back to the sitting room. I can’t eat this standing in the hallway.”

            Rei began to grin cheerfully, ready to turn and lead the way to the sitting area, but the cold from the floorboards sent a shiver up his spine, the cooling steam sticking to him and chilling him. He flicked his eyes over Haru, still damp from the bath, and his cheeks flared red.

            “B-but…shouldn’t you…dress first? So you don’t, you know…catch a chill in a damp towel?”

            Haru tilted his head to the side, much like a puppy, before a glint of mischief slid over his expression. Balancing the plate of sushi on one hand, he deftly loosened the knotted towel bound around his waist and let it slip just an inch lower on his hips.  Rei turned beet red and clutched at his collar, sputtering like an overheated engine.

            “S-s-s-senp—!”

            “I’m not in a damp towel, I’ve got this.” The wet cloth folded itself at Haru’s ankles, revealing his streamlined swimsuit. Haru had to fight a face-splitting grin as Rei stammered in indignant embarrassment. After a moment spent trying to articulate more than half a sentence, Rei gulped, exhaled, and said,

            “At least let me get you a blanket.”

Haru smiled gently and nodded, kicking the damp towel back into the bathroom to be dealt with later.


End file.
